Beyond cute! Sea otters in California, US

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A sea otter peacefully floats in the oceanic waters of Monterey Bay, California. The southern sea otter population once thrived from Baja California to the Pacific Northwest of North America in Alaskan and Russian waters and all the way down to Japan before hunters nearly exterminated them in the 1700s and 1800s. The California sea otter population has now grown from a group of about 50 survivors off Big Sur in 1938, to just over 2000 today. [Photo by Jiao Meng / China.org.cn / Chinagate.cn ]